The Miracle at Heathen's Grove
In 5 BEKE, at the height of Corlagon's Wars of Unification, a fierce battle was fought between two armies: one led by Corlagon's third-born son and general Ulfa, and the so-called Three Kings of the North, technically a coalition of tribes resisting Corlagon's incursion into their lands. Although the would-be king was leading a different campaign elsewhere, he sent one of his fiercest sons to pacify the north. This expansion held immerse significance to his ambition to unite and titanise the warring tribes of men, as an ancient tree, revered as sacred to all the pagans of Old Etrand was standing nearby, on a hilltop 130 miles southwest of Steelhelm. Understanding that if he could seize the site and destroy the tree, it would be a heavy blow to the pagans' beliefs, thus it would be much more effortless to gain the ultimate prize of a unified Etrand. Informations about the battle itself are scarce, but in the end, Ulfa's army gained the upper hand, soundly defeating the northen tribes, and put two of their surviving chiefs, or kings in chains. Enthusiastic in his father's agenda, he gathered five hundred prisoners along with their leaders at the sacred side, and announced his intention to destroy it and show that only his god is the one and only. When he took the first torch and approached the ancient tree, the sound of an eerie and distant horn was heard, making him pause for a moment, and look up at the sky as a ray of light illuminated him. Wall of dark clouds were closing however, and the next moment, a lightning bolt from above struck him down, and the ensuing thunderstorm chased his shaken warriors from the site, and raged on all day and night therafter. When his troops dared return the next morning, they found a pale Ulfa unable to speak, see or hear anything, not responding even when someone touched him. The sacred tree and the captives were gone however, as if they never existed, and were never seen again. It is said that Ulfa's state persisted until his last breath fourty years later, when at the moment of his death, the cloud over the old man's eyes were lifted and spoke the omnious words with the voice of his youth: "not forever". The rumors of the event spread rapidly across Etrand, where the pagan tribes taking it as a sign of divine favor united under the war chief Eormenric Fathreling, descendant of a mighty human king of a golden age long gone. This new power was the first and last serious threat to Corlagon's ambitions, and it would take him another five years to rise from the brink of collapse, aided by the involvement of his allies in Froturn. Pagans however have recited this event for at least two hundred years to come, so much as despite of every attempt by the Kings of Etrand to push it into obscurity, it survives to this day, even if the days of the Old Gods have ended for good. Heathen's Grove is the alleged site of the pagan miracle, taking its name from the incident.